Is Pune IAS officer Prabhakar Deshmukh involved in land deal?

Pune, Jan 23: Prabhakar Deshmukh, the Divisional Commissioner of Pune and the city's top bureaucrat earns Rs 82,000 per month and has allegedly racked up a fortune worth Rs 200 crores by acquiring large tracts of government land that he oversees.

According to an NDTV report, Deshmukh has acquired over 150 acres of land in five districts he controls.

The report further says that Deshmukh bought 300 acres of land which was worth Rs 7-8 crore, jointly with builder Ramesh Kavediya in Jambhe village in Satara district, for just Rs 2 crore, or less than Rs 2 a square foot.

The documents obtained under the RTI act has revealed that the alleged land deal involves Deshmukh and his close relatives.

Deshmukh says that all his land deals have been fair and he is being targeted.

A DNA Report said that the status of the land was converted from agricultural land to non-agricultural land within ten days.

However, Kavediya, who runs the Siddhivinayak real estate group has denied any wrongdoing.

Deshmukh told the news channel that "all his land deals have been fair and that he is being targeted by some people."

Pune based RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar has also written a letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to initiate probe into the whole matter.

In 2011, Deshmukh declared his assets as 95 acres of land and two flats in Pune and Mumbai worth six crores.

Deshmukh took charge as the Divisional Commissioner of Pune from Dilip Band in 2011.

Earlier, Deshmukh has served as the Pune district collector for four years during 2004-08 and he is also the recipient of the Prime Minister's award for excellence in administration for his work on quality improvement in primary education, while serving as Zilla Parishad CEO in Kolhapur between 2002 and 2004.